The EU is reluctant to lift a ban on importing the chillies due to the lack of storage and drying facilities. A senior member of the Sindh Agriculture Forum (SAF), Shakeel Ahmad, has blamed poor Government policies for the delay in establishing the Rs 220 million project and causing losses of millions for the chilli exporters.
The project was expected to be operational by 2011, including 22 state-of-the art chilli processing and drying machines. There are also plans to install processing and drying machinery for onions and garlic.
Mr Ahmad maintains that it is due the reluctance of fund managers, who were not interested in the approval of funds in time.
According Regional Business Coordinator of Small and Medium Enterprises Development Authority (SMEDA) Hyderabad, Imran M Khan, Chilli growers in Sindh are facing heavy financial losses, a plight which been worsened by the stopping of agricultural loans due to unknown reasons.
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